Canadian Railroads > A Nice Day for a Drive

After some much need rain here last week, Saturday promised to have at least some sunshine during the day.  I was out of the house and had the scanner on to see what CN was up to, at about 07:45, and almost immediately heard 407 calling milepost 5 on the Dartmouth Sub. (For those who aren't familiar with it, a new CROR rule requires crews to call out mileposts ending in "5", whether they are operating in CTC or OCS territory.  It's already come in handy a few times.)  That meant I would have enough time to do the drive thru at Tim's, and find a sunny spot somewhere on the Bedford Sub.  That location turned out to be the river crossing in Shubenacadie.  There are a few different ways to do this one, and the parallel highway bridge would be perfect except for all the heavy telephone cables in the way.  So to include the river in the shot, I walked down to the bank, and then towards the bridge to avoid a large tree that was now a problem.  What I hadn't counted on was the grass along the river bank that was chest high, and VERY wet from the overnight rain.  My new waterproof hiking shoes did their job, but there was nothing waterproof about my denim jeans, so by the time I found a good spot, I was soaked from my thighs to my ankles.

​407 showed up at 08:35 with almost 5000 feet of train, and the gypsum power (two trailing units) to go back to Moncton for servicing, behind the usual two road diesels.

​The RTC working yesterday was not the regular one, who is usually good about telling 407 120's location and probable meet.  However, I did wade/swim back to the car in time hear that they weren't going in the hole at Alton, the usual place for the meet, so I knew I had some time to find 120.  The signal at Londonderry, 17 miles west of Truro on the Springhill Sub, was showing clear, so I figured they were getting close.  Folly Lake has a couple different shots, and as I arrived there, the RTC finally told 407 that 120 was at Atkinson (one control point west of me), and since 407 was almost ready to leave with the CBNS pickup, they would meet them at Belmont, the long siding just west of Truro.  CN had been doing some brush cutting near the east end of the siding, but the brush wasn't too bad a couple thousand feet west of there either, for this shot across the water at the south end of the lake.

​I now had to decide whether to follow 120 or 407.  Or, to gamble a bit, and try for both.  Figuring that 407 would take a while to get their now 7000 ft. train out of Belmont siding, and the fact that they had a car restricted to 45 mph, I opted to gamble.  Since 120 has to wind its way down the hill and then through Truro, it was easy to get ahead of them to Brookfield for this shot near mile 57 on the Bedford Sub.  Those clouds that look so nice when they're behind the train, almost caused me to lose this shot.  In fact one was moving right along with the head end as it appeared out of the trees.  Fortunately, the train was a little bit faster than the clouds, and made it into the sunshine for when it counted.  I even got some sun on that red barn in the background.

GTD

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Looking at the sky, I now had plenty of clouds to the south, where 120 was headed, but there had been a cloudless sky at Folly Lake when I had first shot 120, and 407 was headed that way.  So if I need any more justification to add more kilometers to the odometer on the car, that was it.  407 had about a 20 mile head start on me at this point, but they were limited to 45 mph (and even slower climbing up the 1.5% grade to Folly Lake) and a longer route, so I didn't need to speed to get ahead of them.  Unfortunately, my skills at predicting the weather are not impeccable, and I wound up driving into a fairly solid bank of clouds as I proceeded north and west.  I could measure my progress by 407's conductor calling off the mileposts (and a few of the signals) as we converged on Springill Jct.  A new highway bridge, and the landscaping that went with it, has opened up a new view for afternoon westbound trains here.  I had about 10 minutes to see if a sucker hole would open up in time for 407, but it was not to be.  Still, the height allowed me to minimize how much sky was in the frame, and I came away with this shot at 12:12.

​Normally, the next shot would be Amherst, by the sandstone station there.  But the clouds were still hanging around and it looked clearer still to the west.  I did have to be back in Halifax that evening, so I decided Sackville was as far as I could go.  This university town (home of Mt. Alison University, just about the closest thing Canada has to Ivy League) also had a handsome sandstone passenger station, and I amused myself trying to get a decent shot of the bay window and flag fluttering around in the ever present Tantramar Marsh wind.  Sadly, although this is still a passenger stop for VIA (the Ocean is 3 days a week), the station is no longer opened for passengers at train time, and you have to dump your own baggage at the designated spot on the platform for the train crew to pick up.

​When 407 arrived at 12:55, there was only a slight skim of cloud blocking the sun as they rolled by at the mandated 45 mph.  Speaking of VIA, Saturday is the day for an eastbound Ocean, and I could hear them in Moncton talking to the RTC.  They were late already for one reason or another, and with a 7000 foot 407 on the way and a local out there too, the RTC was going to hold them at the station until 407 was past, meaning they were going to be VERY late arriving in Halifax that evening.

GTD

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Great stuff.

KG